Haxby Hefford will be looking to continue his fine form at this weekend’s Canterbury Championships in Twizel. Photo supplied.A contingent of Ashburton’s best rowers begin a march towards the national championships this weekend as they embark on what will be a busy month ahead of the premier event of the rowing season.

A squad of 16 rowers will be in action at Lake Ruataniwha in Twizel over the course of the weekend for the Canterbury Rowing Championships and coach Justin Wall said the crew were heading south with the intention of making their intended plans for the remainder of the season known to some of their key rivals.

The team Ashburton is taking down is littered with talent and there’s plenty of chances of success during the championships which begin on Saturday morning.

Wall said one rower to keep an eye out for over the weekend was Haxby Hefford.

“He won the Club Singles at the Otago Championships prior to Christmas and is really developing.

“We are keen to see him go on with that result and really stamp his authority.”

Also in action is this year’s Ashburton College Head Girl, Mollie Gibson who set Ruataniwha alight last year at the Maadi Cup and announced herself as a rower of the future, and along with Emma Stagg are both in line for good results.

Twelve months ago, Wall said the squad was going through a slight transitional stage with new faces joining the ranks and he’s seen some really strong improvement from those who have joined the fray and expects that to continue.

“They’ve come a long way in over a year.

“Someone like Aidan Elvines is a name we’ve got high hopes for, her development has been fantastic she’s a really strong athlete.”

Grace Wilson, another former Maadi star, will also be on the water.

The squad comprises of a mixture of youthful up and coming talent as well as some experienced heads, with a small number of rowers also competing in the Masters Section which is a rapid growing sector of the sport.

“We’ve almost reached the saturation point in the sport between both the older rowers and the secondary school and junior rowers but the masters is really starting to build momentum and we’re seeing plenty of locals who are keen to compete in the divisions.”

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 17 January 2019

Paul Wylie. Photo supplied.Paul Wylie with a new bike he will take with him into retirement.Former pro cyclist Paul Wylie is keen to get back on the bike.

From the end of this month, he will have more time to do that.

Mr Wylie has run Cyclerama in Burnett Street, Ashburton, since 2003, but the business has been sold and Mr Wylie will have more time to do what he loves – ride bikes.

He started the business after coming back from Australia where he rode professionally for two years – “I didn’t get rich” – and working as a rep servicing cycle stores for 12 years.

Mr Wylie took up cycling when he was at Ashburton College – on a roadster bike – and rode with the Tinwald Cycling Club when he was 17.

From there, the list of achievements grew: he was the youngest, 19, win the Around the Mountain event in Taranaki; won the Auckland three-hour madison and was second twice; the fastest in a Timaru to Christchurch event; and the second-fastest in the 300km Melbourne to Yarrawonga event.

“In those days (brother) Neil and I got a start in the Sun Tour in 1981,” Mr Wylie said.

“It only used to have 32 riders so it was elite, and we both got starts in the Griffin run in conjunction with the America’s Cup.”

When he came back to New Zealand, he worked for nine months at the Fairton works.

He then thought “this is not for me and thought I’d use my experience on calling on good and bad operators in Australia to give it a go (with a business) here”.

“So I gave it a shot, and with the popularity of mountain-biking, it’s worked out all right.”

Mr Wylie said now people you wouldn’t expect were embracing cycling.

In many ways it would be hard to let go and he had mixed emotions.

“I’ll have time to ride my bike rather than spending time fixing everyone else’s.

“It’s the end of an era and a bit scary, but it will give me a chance to do things at home.”

Trips within the South Island are planned, with Wanaka and Nelson on the list of places to visit.

Mr Wylie finishes at the end of this month but will be on hand for a few weeks to help the new owners.

© The Ashburton Courier - 17 January 2019

Andrea Marett. Photo supplied.Where in the World is Andrea Marett now?
Andrea is now Andrea Glover and lives just out of Queenstown with her English husband and their two sons.
Andrea left Ashburton College 3 months into her Form 7 year, 1996. She initially worked at Tiffany's Restaurant in Christchurch as a commis chef (or junior chef) learning the trade from the ground up. After a stint at The Sign of the Takehe, Andrea enrolled at Christchurch Polytechnic for chef training, graduating and then working as pastry chef for Christchurch Park Royal Hotel. Then after a year's stint in Australia Andrea moved to London for 5 years where she met her future husband who also happened to be a chef. She persuaded Mark to move to New Zealand and Wellington beckoned for a year before ending up chefing in a series of Queenstown wineries.

Andrea now works in sales but still in a food-related industry and Mark has retrained as an accountant.

Andrea was very keen to say her years at College gave her a wonderful platform for growth. She loved the diversity of subjects on offer plus Andrea was a keen netball player and also dabbled in lifesaving. Obviously cricket was another of Andrea's pursuits and she remembers a day playing cricket with the 7th formers when she was meant to be in the library. Taken very seriously by whoever caught her and Suzy Davidson, both girls spent a fair bit of that term in detention! Surprisingly, Andrea's mother was not angry with her!

Andrea says her proudest moments so far have been her lovely boys Benjamin and Oliver. I'm sure she meant to include you in that too Mark!

By Shirley Falloon © AshColl Alumni - 17 January 2019